How do I defend looking forward to reality television the way other people anticipate their “5 o’clock somewhere,” glass of Chardonnay? I guess I don’t. As Sheryl Sandberg would have said, just not about this, I lean in, I claim my seat…on the couch.
Nevertheless I will say that in addition to possibly not being deep, I feel justified in trying to find a way to take a break from unemployment stats, war footage, and wondering if my son is eating at college. Love Is Blind calls to me like the ancient sirens of the sea - only not everyone on the show is a siren and the sea is Netflix.
For the uninitiated, Love Is Blind is a reality show in its tenth season. It is produced around the world from Stockholm to Dubai. Because apparently no culture is immune to the romantic fantasy that we can fall in love - strike that, find our spouse - without first seeing, touching or smelling them. Nick Lachey and his wife Vanessa, host this “experiment.” In quotes because that’s what they call this marital challenge. I guess “trainwreck,” would ruin the intoxication of holding out hope that the “experiment” can work. Because for me that’s exactly what it has become.
Because despite knowing the track record of these potential unions, that 90% of them will crash and burn at the altar or before, I continue to tune in. Maybe it’s my state of mind, the state of the world, or really good casting, but this has been the ultimate seduction. I have never seen so many seemingly perfect couples emerge from the “pods” - the enclosed spaces through which they “date.” I just now realize how much the whole premise of this show is closer to science fiction than reality. But nevermind, the in-person chemistry these people share when they meet is just as electric! I find myself concerned for the producers and frankly a little bored. How are they going to create any kind of drama with all these happy people?
Without giving away any of the details and any of the sheer “can’t look away,” entertainment of the rest of the season, let’s just say maybe next year more truth in advertising and call it “Lust Is Blind.” So why did I get so hooked? A lot of it has to do with my own blindness, in people laughing together. My first boss and mentor, director Jerry Zaks, who I think I’ve written about before, told me that when he wants to show a couple falling in love on stage, he has them laugh together. “Laughing is the sound of two people falling in love,” he tells me. The comedian Victor Borge said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” This must be what hooked me this season. Each of these couples laughed together, then cried too. And then laughed again! Isn’t that the foundation of going the distance together? That and being thick-lipped and hot in a bathing suit?
Spoiler alert - and not just for the show - no it is not.
